re: Special Needs Student Told To Remove His Varsity Letter

In the big picture.....this is trivial matter, but since it has been posted I will give my thoughts.

Each school has different requirements for earning a varsity letter and in some cases it carries more prestige at some schools than others. It signifies an accomplishment......same as making the honor roll.

If kids start wearing varsity letters who did not participate in varsity sports it ultimately devalues the accomplishment of those that did.

If this kid had been associated with the basketball program in any way as a manager or water boy.....just like Cuba Gooding Jr in the movie Radio. Then the coach might have considered him as part of the team and might or might not have given the kid a varsity letter.

In this particular case the mother thought she was doing something special for her child while diminishing the accomplishment of others.

The school looks petty with their decision but are sticking to their guidelines to receive a varsity letter. Once an exception is made it only opens the door for more exceptions. I stand by the schools decision.

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Posted by forksup
I just believe you earn some things in life. Heartless? Yes, that's life (well before SJW's and Opera's took over the nation). Give him a reward for something he actually did. Was he the MVP? Most improved? Quite simply he didn't earn a letter.

I think letters are relatively useless but they still stand for an accomplishment for a lot of kids/ some adults.

I'm also speaking as a guy that was the complete opposite of a jock in high school. Debate team, computer games, recreational soccer every other month, community service volunteer. That letter stuff had no relevance to me but I put value in things you earn a lot.

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And you're a moron if you think the real value in playing sports or working in any other area is dependent on receiving a piece of cloth shaped as a letter. You don't see the lessons in working hard and making sacrifices for others as a reward and more important gain? Are you really that shallow?

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while diminishing the accomplishment of others

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Under your line of thinking, everyone should be just as mad when their college gives out an honorary degree. The school is giving a degree out to someone who didn't earn it thus diminishing the worth of those that did.

Also if anyone felt their Letter was diminished because a true special needs kid is wearing one, they need to turn down their sensitivity level.

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Do you think all students should make the Dean's list? Do you think all students should get A's, even the kid that has to work twice as hard as everybody else but he can only manage a B? Should all people earn the same salary regardless of their qualifications and performance?

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Its a letter..

On a jacket...

That you wear in High School...

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Under your line of thinking, everyone should be just as mad when their college gives out an honorary degree. The school is giving a degree out to someone who didn't earn it thus diminishing the worth of those that did.

Also if anyone felt their Letter was diminished because a true special needs kid is wearing one, they need to turn down their sensitivity level.

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While I have always thought the honorary degree was silly....it is a gesture made by a governing body to recognize an individual's accomplishment in a certain field. People don't award themselves honorary degrees.

I stated that the if the kid had been apart of the program in any form the coach might or might not have given him a varsity letter. In this particular case someone without authority gave him a varsity letter.

I agree with the school

So if a thug shoots a Down Syndrome guy in the foot, should America give him a purple heart?

I'm all about special needs kids, but you can't give him something if he didn't EARN it. What would that say to other special needs kids who actually have their goals set high enough to achieve something? They expect it to just be handed to them? No.

I promise you they would rather earn it rather then it just be given to them because they are special.

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Sooo, what about bitches wearing some dudes Letter cause they are givin it up?

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Yous said yourself that they earned it.

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cause they are givin it up

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I still wouldn't call that earning it.

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If the coach had made him an honorary member of the team and awarded it to him it would not have been a big deal at all and the players would have probably supported it 100%.

If this kid was not a special needs kid, no one would be taking the side of the mother. If her kid was crazy about basketball but he was horrible and she gave him a letter he would be ridiculed.

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Do you think all students should make the Dean's list? Do you think all students should get A's, even the kid that has to work twice as hard as everybody else but he can only manage a B? Should all people earn the same salary regardless of their qualifications and performance?

This is what the "sport participation trophy mentality" has created.

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Grades are completely different than a varsity letter for playing a sport. I don't see how this special needs kid getting a varsity letter will effect any of them to the point their lives are changed in a negative way at all. They're going to college for sports or else it's entirely dependent on academics, but either way grades will play a role, and the numbers on their grades will tell the story, just like their performance in their sport will determine if they play anymore after HS. The letter on a jacket is just a tradition, and it has no real bearing on later life.